Siege of Megaris

The Siege of Megaris occurred in 431 BC during the Peloponnesian War when the army of Sparta, commanded by Nikolaos of Sparta and his adopted son Stentor, launched a final push to rid the state of Megaris of Athenian forces. The Spartans overthrew the pro-Athenian ruler Hippias the Vivacious and defeated the Athenians in battle, capturing the city.

Background
The Peloponnesian War started in 431 BC as a contest between the two most powerful Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, and their allies. Militaristic Sparta decided to take on the Athenian Empire (the Delian League) and end Athenian dominance in the Hellenic world, causing several city-states to take sides with the opposing powers. Megaris, situated on a narrow isthmus providing the only land route between the Peleponnese in the south and Attica in the north, was of utmost strategic importance in the first year of the war. The city's leader, Hippias the Vivacious, sided with Athens and invited Athenian troops to garrison the city in preparation for a Spartan siege. Surely enough, a Spartan army commanded by Nikolaos of Sparta and his adoptive son Stentor approached Megaris from the south and laid siege to the city. Megaris saw some of the fiercest fighting of the first year of the war, and the Spartans decided to make a final push to rid Megaris of the Athenians.

Siege preparations
The Spartans established two camps in the Occupied Forest of Tripodiskos, with Nikolaos commanding the beach camp and Stentor commanding the forward camp. The Spartans were forced to steal food and supplies from the locals in order to sustain the siege, so the Athenian general Hyrkanos the Cunning took advantage of the supply line problems by raiding Spartan supply convoys. At the same time, the Athenian navy blockaded the port in a desperate move to halt the Spartan advance, preventing the Spartans from receiving reinforcements or supplies from the sea. The emboldened Athenians launched attacks on the Spartan camps in the forest and beach, threatening to overwhelm them.

This situation changed when the Spartan mercenary Kassandra, captain of the trireme Adrestia, sunk the three Athenian blockade ships in order to enter the port. Kassandra was secretly on a mission from Elpenor to assassinate Nikolaos (her own father, unbeknownst to Nikolaos), and she asked Stentor if she could speak with the general. However, Stentor asked that she prove herself before she could speak to the general, so Kassandra joined in the effort to conquer Megaris for Sparta. The Spartans sent forward scouts to identify key targets in preparation for the assault, and they sought to weaken the Athenians by slaying their general, stealing their war chest, and destroying their supplies before slaying Hippias.

Sabotaging the defenses
Kassandra met with the Spartan officer Dolios, who was at the scene of a bloody ambush of a Spartan supply convoy. Kassandra found clues as to where the supplies had gone, tracking the stolen supplies to a cave behind the Grave of Tereus; there, she found several refugees, including Neaera, with fresh-cooked food. During the conversation, Neaera revealed that the Spartans had stolen food from the civilians, and that they had taken the supplies from the convoy; however, they said that they had found the convoy already slain, and they believed that Hyrkanos was responsible. Kassandra then told them that they would be spared if they would give back a significant portion of the supplies, as this would allow for Kassandra to lie to Dolios and say that she had killed the thieves and recovered the supplies from them. The starving civilians reluctantly agreed, and Kassandra brought the supplies back to Dolios.